(Eng) Weasleys, Pranks and other Curses

30

I had excused myself after lunch by saying that I needed to write some last Christmas cards. George and Molly hadn't let on about last night's conversation, and no one else seemed to sense that I wasn't quite able to relax anymore.

In fact, I wrote a postcard. To Ellen Guido.

We had written to each other only sporadically since the incident. I knew she had blamed herself and for a while I had blamed her too. It had been childish and stupid, but at the time I had not known where else to go with all the feelings because of despair. But I fervently hoped that she had forgiven herself, because if one was realistic, it was certain: no one could have stopped young Camille Renard from doing anything.

I gave Mistel the card, never going up to the Owlery myself. Too much view. Too much distance from the ground.

When I stepped back into the living room, I was greeted by boisterous laughter, as usual. The Weasleys had pushed aside all the chairs around the dining room table and were now having a ping pong match. The twins and Ron, versus Ginny, Harry, and Maddie.

I flopped down on the sofa with Bill, whom I'd barely gotten to see most of the time. He'd found the open study with the reference books and we'd had to look for him partway through dinner because he'd completely lost track of time. "Am I a snob?"

Confused, Bill blinked up from his book. "What?" He looked for a bookmark, only to be immediately handed one by Lemon.

I grimaced. "I am a snob."

"What makes you think that now?"

"Well, look around. I have house elves who know what you need before you've asked for it. I can easily host your entire family for two weeks without even giving it a second thought. Your mother is right."

Bill put his big hand on my shoulder. "What did my mother say?" And when I didn't answer, "You're rich, Camille, not a snob, there's a big difference."

"Tss, sure," I dismissed his explanation.

"The Malfoys are snobs," Hermione came to Bill's rescue, loading a stack of books onto the small sofa table in front of us. "You have privileges, yes," she conceded, "but from what I overheard, you're still diligent and work hard for what you can." She pulled out an old Beauxbaton class schedule from one of the books.

Immediately, I snatched the note away from her. Besides my regular classes, I had squeezed in my practice sessions and possible empty rooms into almost every free hour. Since my injury, I had had to hold back a bit.

Next, Hermione patted the books. "You may have the money to buy all these books, but you still had to read and learn on your own." She opened one of the books on enchantments and held out the full pages to me. I had made notes everywhere when the French explanations had confused me.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Bill grabbed one of the books. "You've become quite the little nerd, Renard."

"Watch out Hermione, or she'll snatch your place as number one bookworm," laughed Fred, who suddenly threw himself over the back of the sofa between us.

"Ugh, don't get so close! You're sweating wet!" shouted Hermione, moving the books to safety first.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Ron half hanging on the table while George was laughing and patting him on the back. The twin pulled up his plain T-shirt to dry his face and I almost forgot how to breathe. By Merlin.

"Geez. What time it is. We should start getting ready for the evening." My hands fluttered around like a bird trying to take its first flight because I suddenly had a very urgent need to get out of here.

"Damn hormones," Bill chortled in my ear as he pushed past me, and yes. It was purely intentional as I stepped on his foot in the process.

"Mission peacock is in full swing," Mister Weasley chuckled in my direction when his wife wasn't paying attention. I had written him again personally that they really shouldn't bother about clothes, but he had told me how much it actually bothered his wife not to have anything special to wear. So we had come up with a plan. I had gotten him the contact of a tailor and he had been there several times on his lunch break to commission a dress for his wife. And to make sure it didn't get out that I had paid for it, Mister Weasley would give it to her as a Christmas present.

That was my Christmas present to him.

With that, I had cared for two Weasleys. I had given Mrs. Weasley a stress-free holiday. That was all I could give her without making her feel ashamed.

After dinner, Hermione would get a special textbook, Harry and Ron would each get something from their favorite Quidditch teams. Bill had picked out his own present - a photo of all of us in Greece.

For Maddie, I had actually gotten a signed book from a medicine witch, but since that morning I had something better. I slipped the little card between the pages like a bookmark. I was sure she'd like the surprise.

For Ginny, I'd gotten the autobiography of a Quidditch player she'd been raving about forever, and Fred got a set of dragonskin gloves. Also for Quidditch.

At first, I had wanted to get George the same ones. But somehow it didn't seem right to get the twins the same.

When I saw the book, I knew it was the right gift.
"If the whole year were April Fool's Day" - a book about joking and fun magic from Italy. You could choose the language on the first page and it translated itself. In addition, I had enchanted the cover. In large, black block letters, it read "Business Guide. Everything you need to know before starting a business." Molly Weasley might be more forgiving of that.

I needed Mistle's help stacking all the presents under the Christmas tree.
Apparently, my elves had really taken the Weasleys to heart, because the other four also returned from their rooms with gifts collected so the Weasleys wouldn't have to stress about getting ready.